For Mochi readers interested in politics and living in Massachusetts, Asian Sisters Participating in Reaching Excellence (ASPIRE) is presenting an event through its speaker series called Making Waves: Journey & Challenges for Asian American Women in Politics. It’s free and open to the public. Please RSVP to the event.
The panel is on Wednesday July 27, 2011, from 7-9 p.m. at the Microsoft New  England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, MA. Speakers are Lisa Wong, Suzanne Lee and Diana Hwang.

In early June, the Chinese American rapping trio Model Minority released a song for their newest mixtape, “The Tiger Sons.” Model Minority is made up of veteran emcees Jason “Grandmaster” Chu, Andrew “Inglish” Chu, and David “D-One” Fung. They say “The Tiger Sons” tape was developed “in the hopes of continuing to use music to educate our listeners and friends about the struggles and victories of Asians in America.”

I’ve found myself crying at everything lately––and not just reruns of “Grey’s Anatomy.” These days, given my real-world journalism internship at a magazine, I find myself crying while researching articles; tearing up when someone sends in a sad letter to the editor. Maybe it’s my hormones, or maybe I’m finally tapping into feelings I always suspected I had.

Japan carries many traditions and one of them is making cranes—legend says that if 1,000 cranes are made, your wish will come true. Make a wish of healing for the victims of the tsunami and earthquake by creating a crane. Emily Co of Absolutely Fobulous started a Facebook campaign called JustOneCrane to collect cranes from all over the world, in addition to raising funds and awareness of post-disaster help for Japan.

President Obama recently named Gary Locke, the current Secretary of Commerce, as the new ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. Locke, who will replace Jon Huntsman (rumored to have left his post to pursue a presidential run in 2012), is rewriting the history books as the first Chinese American to take on this highly visible and influential role in foreign affairs.